LANDMARK WIN FOR OUR UNION AND THE MEMBERS
On November 26, 2019, Kaleida Administration notified CWA 1168 representatives that they were deleting over 100 Certified Medical Assistant and Medical Assistant positions at BGMC in most patient care areas and transition those positions to be filled with Patient Care Assistants. This became a job security fight for our members. This action was in direct violation of Article 66 “Bargaining Unit Work” in the collective bargaining agreement.
This article protects the jobs and the rights of members by defining what bargaining unit work is. It states that “non-bargaining unit personnel shall not perform work assigned to bargaining unit employees”.
CMAs and MAs are part of the CWA 1168 bargaining unit where PCAs are part of SEIU 1199 bargaining unit.
This means that Kaleida gave the bargaining work of our members to “non-bargaining unit personnel” because they are not only a different bargaining unit but in an entirely different union.
A grievance was filed on behalf of the CMAs and MAs and the matter was brought to arbitration.
On March 12th 2021 Our Union and the Members WON!
The Arbitrator decided in favor of Our Union and the Members!
What does that mean?
All CMAs and MAs who were moved, lost pay, or had to leave for a new position, are entitled to their position and their jobs back.
Kaleida has been shown that they WILL be held to the collective bargaining agreement.
The Union and the affected members WILL be made whole.
How will that happen?
The next step is for the Union to sit down with Kaleida as ordered by the arbitrator to work out a resolution. This will outline a process and timeline to make the Union and its’ members whole again.
